HeartsNParks Community Mobilization Guide - National Heart, Lung ...

To Your Weight and Heart Disease I.Q. Test
1 True. Being overweight increases your
risk for high blood cholesterol and high
blood pressure, two of the major risk
factors for coronary heart disease. Even if
you do not have high blood cholesterol or
high blood pressure, being overweight
may increase your risk for heart disease.
Where you carry your extra weight may
affect your risk too. Weight carried at your
waist or above seems to be associated with
an increased risk for heart disease in many
people. In addition, being overweight
increases your risk for diabetes, gallbladder
disease, and some types of cancer.
2 True. If you are overweight, even moderate
reductions in weight, such as 5 to 10 percent,
can produce substantial reductions in
blood pressure. You may also be able to
reduce your LDL-cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol)
and triglycerides and increase
your HDL-cholesterol (“good” cholesterol).
3 False. The average weight gain after
quitting smoking is 5 pounds. The proportion
of ex-smokers who gain large amounts of
weight (greater than 20 pounds) is relatively
small. Even if you gain weight when you
stop smoking, change your eating and
exercise habits to lose weight rather than
starting to smoke again. Smokers who quit
smoking decrease their risk for heart
disease by about 50 percent compared to
those people who do not quit.
58 Obesity & Overweight
4 False. Weight loss, if you are overweight,
may reduce your blood pressure even if
you don’t reduce the amount of sodium
you eat. Weight loss is recommended for all
overweight people who have high blood
pressure. Even if weight loss does not
reduce your blood pressure to normal, it
may help you cut back on your blood
pressure medications. Also, losing weight
if you are overweight may help you
reduce your risk for, or control, other
health problems.
5
6
True. Even though a high sodium or salt
intake plays a key role in maintaining high
blood pressure in some people, there is no
easy way to determine who will benefit
from eating less sodium and salt. Also, a
high intake may limit how well certain
high blood pressure medications work.
Eating a diet with less sodium may help
some people reduce their risk of developing
high blood pressure. Most Americans eat
more salt and other sources of sodium
than they need. Therefore, it is prudent for
most people to reduce their sodium intake.
True. Eating fewer calories and exercising
more is the best way to lose weight and
keep it off. Weight control is a question of
balance. You get calories from the food
you eat. You burn off calories by exercising.
Cutting down on calories, especially
calories from fat, is key to losing weight.
Combining this with a regular physical
activity program, like walking, bicycling,
jogging, or swimming, can not only help
in losing weight but also in maintaining